


asseveration

by kurgaya



Category: Naruto
Genre: A Bit Not Good, Don't copy to another site, Happy Ending, Light Angst, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Marriage of Convenience, Or Is It?, Trust
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:41:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25125607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kurgaya/pseuds/kurgaya
Summary: Gai could go home, or train, or recount this strange and wonderful wedding to his papa, but instead, he watches the rain start again. There’s a part of him that doesn’t expect Kakashi to return - and yet he does, just as the worst of the rain thunders down.[Gai's in love. Kakashi's insomething. They wed that week].
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Maito Gai | Might Guy
Comments: 31
Kudos: 196





	asseveration

**Author's Note:**

> Written for kakagai day [7th July] over on [kkgweek @ tumblr.](https://kkgweek.tumblr.com/) Prompt was "marriage."
> 
> This kinda starts out doom and gloom for a bit, but it has a happy ending I promise! ✌️

Kakashi’s an exemplary shinobi when on duty. His mission record proves it. Behind the porcelain mask, he never ceases nor complains. His loyalty is twice his father’s; his ingenuity all his mother’s. _Hound_ is the perfect moniker. The village whispers of a _good captain_ and a _better man_. Gai doesn’t need to be told that Kakashi is both, but it’s hard to imagine it when Kakashi is off-duty. He barely eats; never sleeps. When he isn’t training, he paces the streets alone or talks to the graveyard. That he’s in Gai’s apartment at all is extraordinary. He wears his ANBU blacks like a second skin, but the chestplate, at least, is set aside by the door. It can’t be comfy to lie on. His arms spread-eagle across Gai’s floor, and his legs might be, too, hidden under the kotatsu. He’s too paranoid to remove his forehead-protector and asymmetric vambraces. Gai knows there’s a kunai strapped to his leg. There’s three more within reach at any given moment, but that’s just how it is around Gai’s apartment.

Gai scoops rice into bowls. Kakashi’s a mess, so Gai can’t miss a chance to feed him. A shinobi of Kakashi’s calibre could body-flicker away at any moment, or replace himself with a clone. He might already _be_ a clone. Gai glances over to check, but he wouldn’t be able to tell. Kakashi’s clones always look real. Gai supposes he could throw a kunai to find out, but feeding a fake-Kakashi is better than not feeding him at all.

He squishes the rice to pile on more. Curry bubbles on the stove, ready for serving. It’s a variation of his papa’s favourite, milder for Kakashi’s taste. Years of eating at the Maito family table have only built up his tolerance _so_ much. It would help if he didn’t eat as fast as he could breathe, but Gai doubts that habit will change any time soon. Kakashi’s dedication to wearing his mask is an obsession. It would worry Gai if there wasn’t enough of Kakashi to worry about already.

“Sit up, Rival, you can’t eat down there!”

Kakashi briefly closes his eyes like a tired, old dog. Then he sits up as Gai slides a bowl across the kotatsu, preventing it from spilling. There’s a warm flush to his face from the weight of the blanket. He looks almost healthy, for once. He needs all the colour he can get before winter sets in. By January, he’ll be a block of ice.

Gai doesn’t have that problem. His Will of Fire keeps him warm throughout the year!

“Thanks for the meal,” Kakashi says, shielding the bowl from sight. That’s another unfortunate habit from his younger days, when he had to fend for himself following Sakumo’s death.

If Gai had his way, he would bundle Kakashi under the kotatsu all winter and feed him curry every night! He’s not blind to Kakashi’s strength (and _certainly_ not blind to his muscles), but there’s always room for improvement and a hearty, healthy diet! It’s a shame Kakashi relies on food pills and takeout to sustain himself: he’s an excellent cook! He knows all of Dai’s recipes as well as Gai does - and then some. Whatever has a hold of Kakashi is wasting him away, and Gai refuses to let that happen, not after Sakumo. If only Kakashi would let him in!

Gai wipes frustrated tears from his eyes. Kakashi doesn’t seem to notice, fixated on the rice in his bowl. He hasn’t touched a single grain - or any of the aubergine! He _loves_ aubergine!

“What’s wrong, Rival?” Gai asks, pausing his meal. It won’t do to eat something that Kakashi can’t enjoy. That ruins the pleasure of sharing! “Would you prefer something else?”

“No,” comes the rebuttal, which is both warming and worrying to hear. “This is fine. It’s just...”

Kakashi doesn’t resume eating. Neither does Gai.

He waits. It’s unusual for Kakashi to justify anything he says or does, so those two words are more than Gai expected to hear. He doesn’t press. Kakashi’s honesty is fickle, and his emotions even more so. Maybe there’s a reason Kakashi’s allowed Gai to coerce him here for dinner tonight; maybe Gai’s about to find out what it is. No, of course there is! It’s Kakashi. He’s under the kotatsu because he wants to be, or he wants something from Gai, or _both_. Gai hopes it’s both, but he isn’t naive enough to set his expectations that high.

“You do… a lot for me,” Kakashi says.

Gai blinks. Then blinks some more. The only reason he doesn’t attempt a genjutsu release is the spoon in his hand.

“I do the healthy amount!” he says after a significant delay.

Kakashi sighs. Whatever strange sincerity had come over him vanishes beneath a scowl. He stabs his spoon into the curry as though it’s a bowl of ice. It might be soon if he glares at it any harder.

“D’you remember what I told you about Danzō?”

Gai doesn’t like the prospect of this conversation anymore. “I do not,” he lies, setting down his meal. Kakashi’s glare flicks up towards him but Gai adds, “Because you told me to forget.”

He remembers every word of that conversation. It never happened, but he remembers.

“Right. Yeah.” Kakashi turns to the window, jaw set. Konoha is quiet outside, and dark. Soon, the shortest day will be upon them. The years have felt so long in war, and Kakashi has them all shackled to his ankles. He’s twenty. Gai has to believe that the best is yet to come for both their sakes.

“I’ve been thinking. When I die, I don’t want Danzō to get his hands on me or anything from my clan. I can make a will now, but you know what that’s like.”

Unfortunately, Gai does. Written wills of family-less shinobi have a mysterious habit of going missing. Oral wills are “forgotten”. Deathbed wills are contested. Gai doesn’t have one. A clan would protect his possessions, finances, and property upon his death. Whoever pulls the strings over Konoha’s legal matters may not care for the lone shinobi, but they’re wise not to challenge a _clan_. Gai doesn’t have one of those, either, and neither does Kakashi anymore.

“But I trust you,” Kakashi continues, turning back. There is something young and old and frightened about his gaze, and yet when he tips his head back, he looks to Gai in challenge. “So it’s you - or no-one.”

“I understand,” Gai says, although he doesn’t, really. But that doesn’t matter. They’re Eternal Rivals. He sits straighter in pride. He has Kakashi’s back - always - and it thrills him for Kakashi to acknowledge that. It fuels that fire within him. It gives him the strength to battle anything. It fills him with love. “What do you need? I accept.”

Amusement flashes across Kakashi’s face. Some of that fear ebbs away - but not all of it, Gai notes. He shouldn’t have any uncertainty about Gai. They’re Men of Destiny, and Gai’s in love. “I haven’t asked yet,” Kakashi says. “I could want anything.”

“You’re my Most Important Person. You can have -”

“Marry me.”

Gai barely hears the words. It’s not a question and there’s only one answer.

They wed that week.

Gai visits his papa on the morning-of to deliver the news. He leaves Kakashi sleeping under the kotatsu, returned from a mission bloodied but alive. Gai lays another blanket over him before setting off, his heart strengthened by the trust Kakashi has given him. He speaks to his papa’s grave with pride and excitement, and he’s sure his papa would understand. A flash-flood of rain forces him home before the ceremony to change clothes. Kakashi is gone when Gai squelches in, but that’s all right. Gai doesn’t own the appropriate formal wear, and he inherited nothing of the sort from his papa. He settles for a green yukata despite the colder weather. It fits in every opposite way to his jumpsuit and he almost changes his mind, but then Kakashi slips in through the apartment seals cloaked in his ANBU blacks and something he’s never worn.

Gai won’t admit his heart skips at the sight.

“I dug it out of a scroll,” Kakashi says, shrugging defensively. The black haori dwarfs him. It looks like it belongs to a wedding kimono, but he doesn’t have the rest of the pieces. The Hatake clan crest dots the chest, shoulders, and back.

Gai feels under-dressed. A yukata simply doesn’t compare. “Sakumo’s?”

“Probably,” Kakashi says, visibly uncomfortable with the attention. The flush to his face can’t be the kotatsu anymore. “But maybe grandfather’s too. I can change -”

“No! No, it’s fine,” Gai cries, reaching to halt him. The haori is unlike anything he owns; it feels extremely well-made. He pets it distractedly. “It’s wonderful. You look most dashing!”

Kakashi’s glare is ice. Gai jerks away, his face red and his smile indescribably large.

There’s no ceremony, only paperwork. Asuma and Kurenai provide the witness seals. It’s over before Gai has time to process anything except how _uncomfortable_ his yukata is, and then Kakashi is waving the paperwork under his nose. Kurenai kisses his cheek, her eyes sparkling, and Asuma claps him on the back. They’re good friends for doing this. Kakashi manages to dodge a kiss from Kurenai, but he can’t escape a hug from Asuma. They tap vambraces, briefly, brown against brown, and then Kurenai ushers her boyfriend home.

Kakashi removes his haori and disappears to Administration to file the form. Once it's approved, they'll be married for real. That leaves Gai, alone on the doorstep. He could go home, or train, or recount this strange and wonderful wedding to his papa, but instead, he watches the rain start again. There’s a part of him that doesn’t expect Kakashi to return - and yet he does, just as the worst of the rain thunders down. They shelter there in the doorway, and Gai starts to shiver.

“This isn’t how it went in _Icha Icha Paradise_ ,” Kakashi sighs.

It’s the unromantic thing he could have said. Gai can’t stop smiling.

“I think this is better than your book.”

Kakashi scoffs. His sharingan flashes through his eyelashes. “You’ve never read it.”

“I could,” Gai says, although he’ll combust halfway through. It’s better than the other things Kakashi used to read, and that’s all the credit he’ll give it. “I would still say this is better.”

Kakashi gives him a funny look. He’s been giving Gai lots of funny looks today, when he can muster the courage. It must be strange not to have a book to hide behind. ANBU blacks don’t offer any pockets, so Kakashi’s been fiddling with the hem of his haori instead, expressions more open and yet more confusing than ever.

“I suppose… I should thank you,” Kakashi says. It’s a Kakashi thing to say, neither a _thank you_ nor a certainty, and yet the sentiment is there. His pause suggests there’s something on his mind - something else, perhaps - but then thunder crashes overhead and they look up, distracted by the light.

Gai doesn’t need to question it. He understands his Eternal Rival well enough. If there are things left unsaid, then Kakashi will find the words eventually. He can wait.

“I’d say it’s difficult weather for rock-climbing,” Gai notes off-handedly.

Rain splatters at their feet. His yukata isn’t ruined yet, but judging by the spark in Kakashi’s gaze, it soon will be.

“Hokage’s Rock, first to the top?”

Gai could kiss him. He could never stop kissing him. “No chakra or weapons.”

“Deal,” Kakashi says, darting past Gai and into the rain. It soaks him through to the bone, but he's a good shinobi and doesn't care. He's a _better_ Rival, proving it with a taunt: “Loser tells my dogs I got hitched!”

And then he’s bolting down the street, lightning in the air and Gai at his heels.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! All comments appreciated :)


End file.
